An Almost Perfect Thing (8 page)

CHLOE

Mathew, don't. You don't need to do that.

GREG

So why didn't you go?

MATHEW

I've done everything for you. Why would you do this to me?

GREG

That's what I can't get the readers to understand. Why didn't you run when you had the chance?

MATHEW

I'm gonna do it. And it'll be all your fault. My blood and brains all over the wall. Is that what you want? Is that why you were by the door?

CHLOE's lines are now to GREG.

CHLOE

Have you ever been everything to someone? The only reason that they're living?

GREG

I don't know. I've never—

CHLOE

You'd know. Have you ever felt love?

MATHEW

No one will ever love you like I do. You know that, right?

GREG

Of course I have.

CHLOE

When?

MATHEW

Because your mom left you. Your dad gave up on you.

CHLOE

You don't have a wife or a girlfriend.

MATHEW

You have no one.

CHLOE

Nothing. So, when have you felt love? You haven't. That's why you don't get it. That's why you're so jealous.

GREG

Is that what you call it? What you had with him? Love?

CHLOE

I saved his life. Everyone forgot about him. No one cared. He sat in that house completely alone until me. I took care of him. I gave him something to live for.

GREG

That doesn't answer my question. Do you call it love?

CHLOE

Of course it's not love. My doctors tell me over and over and over. You people are so stupid.

CHLOE's lines are now to MATHEW.

I know you love me. Now put the gun down. You need to breathe, okay?

MATHEW

I want to hear it. Tell me.

CHLOE

I need you.

MATHEW

And?

CHLOE

I have nowhere to go.

MATHEW

Because everyone forgot about you.

CHLOE

Yeah. Everyone forgot about me.

MATHEW

Why else?

CHLOE

Because I love you.

MATHEW

And why do you love me?

CHLOE

Because you saved me.

MATHEW

And who else loves you?

CHLOE

No one. Just you.

MATHEW

And who else loves me?

CHLOE

No one. Just me.

MATHEW

So it's just us. Right?

CHLOE

It's just us.

MATHEW

If you ever do that again I'll have to make sure we're together forever. Okay? Because I can't lose you. You're my everything.

CHLOE

I'm not going anywhere. Breathe. You need to breathe.

GREG

Chloe?

CHLOE's lines are now to GREG.

CHLOE

You shouldn't have taken me on that show. You shouldn't push me. I could walk out right now. Nothing's stopping me. You don't want me to do that, do you?

GREG

Of course not.

CHLOE

Because you need me, right?

GREG

Chloe—

CHLOE

Say it.

Beat.

GREG

I need you.

CHLOE

Say it again.

GREG

I need you.

CHLOE

And again.

GREG

I need you.

CHLOE

We're both alone. All we have is each other. When the series is done, you're going to stay with me. Right?

GREG

Right.

Beat.

CHLOE

This week tell them how I saved him. How I gave him a reason to keep going and that saved his life. And then… write that I miss him. That I think about him every day.

GREG

So that he'll read it.

CHLOE

You wanted the truth, didn't you?

SCENE EIGHT

Shift. To the audience.

GREG

I write it. I know the reaction it will get.

CHLOE

People write me letters.

GREG

Send them to my office.

CHLOE

I sneak them from the mailbox before my dad sees them. They say things like—

GREG

(imitating public)
"If she liked it so much—"

CHLOE

(imitating public)
"Then she should've stayed."

GREG

(imitating public)
"Because obviously she liked it."

CHLOE

(imitating public)
"Slut."

I read every letter over and over till they're memorized. I press my ear to my dad's door. Listen for his breathing. In my mind, I say, "Dad, I'm sorry… Dad, I'm scared."

MATHEW

I'm terrified. That she'll leave me. She's been demanding so much lately. To go to the doctor, insists she needs to go to the dentist. Even talks about going to school.

CHLOE

Dad, will you help me?

GREG

She's pushed me into a corner.

MATHEW

I need to think of something else. If freedom is what she wants—

GREG

If a friend is what she needs—

MATHEW

Then that's what she should get.

CHLOE

I have to get out.

GREG

While I plan my next move… I search.

CHLOE

Walk.

MATHEW

Drive.

GREG

Hunt. For him.

MATHEW

For a house. In the country. Where we can live together. Far from everyone else. Where she can be free.

GREG

She said labour. Creative. I guess carpentry. I go to every shop I can find. Maybe—

CHLOE

I'll bump into him.

GREG

Be able to tell who it is.

CHLOE

I'll say I'm sorry.

GREG

Look into his eyes and know.

CHLOE

He'll say "I forgive you."

GREG

I'll have him.

CHLOE

People on the street stare at me. I walk faster.

GREG

I stop for lunch on my way home.

CHLOE

Turning down street after street.

MATHEW

Road after road… searching for our future house. Our new life.

CHLOE

I start running. Running from—

GREG

I check the magazine's website again.

MATHEW

It'll be an old house. Far away. I'll fix it up. Build new furniture. Paint the walls.

GREG

There it is. My face on the front page. The Man Behind the Girl.

CHLOE

I have to see Greg.

MATHEW

I'll make it perfect.

CHLOE

Get on the bus.

GREG

Click on it.

MATHEW

Absolutely perfect.

GREG

Read it as fast as I can.

CHLOE

Sit near the back. Hope no one will talk to me.

MATHEW

We'll live there for the rest of our lives. I'll go to work every day. She'll stay home. Clean the house. Cook. Take care of me. Have my kids. We'll be happy. I won't have to lock her up because she won't want to go anywhere. She'll choose to be with me. She'll finally be free.

CHLOE

Two girls sit across from me. I know what they're saying—

"There's that girl. There's a bad man on the loose because of her."

And then this woman beside me—

"He could go after my babies. She wants to hurt my babies."

A man in front of me—

"What a waste. Such a waste."

The way they're staring at me, I know that's what they're saying. Thinking. They're blocking the entrance. I can't get out. My teeth… my teeth start to ache so bad. Pounding in my head. I have to get out.

GREG

It's about my childhood, university, what I do on the weekend, my bad jokes, my opinions on the future of print media, and then… her. The interviews. Him.

CHLOE

Breathe… five… four…

GREG

I get to the end.

CHLOE

Three…

GREG

"After spending the day with Mr. Kalowitz, I can't help but wonder… did Chloe Evans choose him because she knew he was already attached to her? Did she look for someone who wouldn't question her too hard? Someone who'd accompany her to lavish parties and American talk shows. It's time for the police to—"

I stop reading.

CHLOE

I can't get out.

GREG

They think I'm a joke.

MATHEW

I'm going to give her the perfect life.

CHLOE

I have to get out.

MATHEW

She won't complain, she won't demand anything.

CHLOE

I need Greg.

GREG

I need his name.

MATHEW

Because she'll have the perfect life.

GREG

I need his name.

CHLOE

I need Greg... I need Greg! I need Greg! I NEED GREG! I NEED GREG!

SCENE NINE

Shift. GREG's condo, MATHEW's house. GREG and MATHEW speak to CHLOE while CHLOE speaks to GREG.

GREG

That was fast.

MATHEW

Chloe?

CHLOE

I was on my way here when you called.

GREG

You okay?

MATHEW

Put your book down. I have a surprise for you.

CHLOE

Can we breathe together? Just for a minute? Sometimes he and I… when things were bad or he was feeling down, we'd drive all day to this park. We'd sit up on this bridge, way up high, looking over the water. He was calm there. So I was calm. We'd sit there all day, not talking, breathing together. Maybe we could do that? Or maybe we could go there. Or go somewhere.

MATHEW

I know things have been hard lately… I know you haven't been happy. So I was thinking that—

CHLOE

Maybe we could just leave.

MATHEW

We could move.

CHLOE

There's nothing keeping us here.

MATHEW

We can start over.

CHLOE

We would be happy.

GREG/MAT

Chloe—

Beat.

GREG

I have some bad news.

MATHEW

I found a house… for us.

GREG

The police are going door to door.

MATHEW

It's pretty far… on the outskirts of the city.

GREG

They say they're zeroing in.

MATHEW

Completely secluded. Miles from anyone else.

GREG

But it's going to be okay.

MATHEW

It's going to be perfect.

GREG

Because I have an idea.

MATHEW

My idea is… You live upstairs.

GREG

You write the book.

GREG/MAT

With me.

GREG

It's your story, your opinions, your thoughts. Everything you haven't gotten to say yet. It'll be a bestseller. We'll travel all over the world.

MATHEW

You'll be free. Just like you wanted.

GREG

There's just one catch.

MATHEW

When you're upstairs—

GREG

We include him.

MATHEW

You and I… we'll be different.

GREG

His story. His perspectives. His voice.

MATHEW

You'll live like my…

GREG

I'll meet him, I'll talk to him.

MATHEW

Like my…

GREG

I'll paint a picture of a man so broken—

MATHEW

It's just that…

GREG

The police are going to find him soon.

MATHEW

You've become such a beautiful young woman.

GREG

I want to make you the hero.

MATHEW

So grown up.

GREG

I want to be there with you.

MATHEW

I want to be with you.

Beat.

GREG

Chloe, do you trust me?

MATHEW

Do you love me?

CHLOE

Yes. But—

GREG

Then trust me. I'm doing this for you.

MATHEW

For us.

GREG

Give me his name. You know—

CHLOE

If I give you his name that's all they'll care about. I should be enough. I saved my life and I saved his. No one helped me. And now you want me to just give him up. All that work for nothing?

MATHEW

Chloe—

GREG

What made you leave that night? Something must have changed in you.

Tell me.

MATHEW

Sit with me.

GREG

The truth.

MATHEW

Please.

GREG

Whatever it was, it's the same reason you need to give him up. The same reason you need to give me his name.

She sits by MATHEW. He breathes her in.

MATHEW

You smell nice… and, and your skin… it's so soft… Things are going to be different now, Chloe. You need to look at me differently. Think about me differently.

GREG

Chloe?

CHLOE

It's not what you think.

GREG

Doesn't matter. Tell me anyway. Every detail.

MATHEW

Don't be nervous.

GREG

Don't be scared.

MATHEW

We're going to be so happy.

MATHEW touches CHLOE's face intimately.

Look at me.

CHLOE

My teeth hurt.

GREG/MAT

What?

CHLOE

All of a sudden. They just started hurting.

MATHEW

I'm trying to talk to you about our new life.

CHLOE

They hurt—

MATHEW

I need you to be a grown-up!

CHLOE

Pounding and pounding and pounding—

MATHEW

It's in your head.

CHLOE

All I can think is, "I have to get out now. I have to get to the dentist. My teeth hurt so bad. I have to get out now. If I don't get out now, I'll never get out. And they'll just keep hurting and hurting and hurting. They hurt so bad! I have to get out now! I have to get out now!"

GREG/MAT

Dammit, Chloe!

GREG

You're saying that's why you left?

CHLOE

They hurt so bad—

MATHEW

That's enough!

GREG

You can't even tell the truth this one time?

CHLOE

That is the truth.

MATHEW